Japan, US share concern on China military buildup

TOKYO, Feb 21 (Reuters) US President Dick Cheney and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe agreed today on the need to ''closely monitor'' China's military capacity in space after Beijing's satellite-killing test, a Japanese Foreign Ministry official told reporters.

Cheney and Abe also shared concerns about Beijing's rapid military buildup and its lack of transparency, said the official, who briefed reporters after the two leaders met in Tokyo.

Last month China used a ground-based medium-range ballistic missile to knock out an ageing Chinese weather satellite 537 miles (865 km) about the earth, the first known satellite-killing test in space in more than 20 years.

REUTERS PDM ND1832